I have no desire to - well certainly not at this stage - to fly my drone to extreme distances. In all honesty, for what I want to do then 99 time out of 100 I'd be happy with 200m and clear line of sight. The other 1 occasion I might want to fly further but this would be coastal cliff photography / videoing.

Soi far I've only flown the drone twice - it's the Phantom 3 SE ** - and both thimes at 50 to 75m distance and a height of 20m and absolute line of sight with zero obstacles I've hit the dreaded poor or loss of signal message. As a n00b that worries me so I immediately bring it closer to me.

So, I'm based in the UK and thus in CE mode. I've read about the FCC trick but that doesn't seem to work for the 3 SE or at least for my 3 SE (story below ### if interested) so looking to other 3 SE users as to how they've overcome their distance issues if indeed you get them? Would a windsurfer type aerial mod work?

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** As a complete aside, does anyone know if there is going to be a sub forum for the 3 SE and if not which would be best to post in?

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### so, my attempt to switch to FCC...
I've followed the insructions found in various places and successfully switched to FCC mode. I say successful as this is only evidenced by having 11 channels in the 2.4Ghz frequency but no physical test had at that stage taken place. I could start the AC and controller, log in to the wifi and bring up camera in the app... all looked good.

My first test resulted in me running down my phone battery as when out in the field I couldn't get my phone to bring up the 3 SE camera. AC and controller were connected. I had good GPS, I was connected to the drone's wifi, etc.... but no image and the only thing I initially spotted but discounted was that the camera button was grey. At this point with a dead phone I presummed I'd done something wrong as a n00b and headed home. Recharged phone and tested at home with no joy - still no camera view. So deleted app, cache, etc and tried all over again...again it successfully 'worked' at home and on the next field test it failed as before.

So I proceeded to run a few home tests and it appears that when first setting it all to FCC mode I'm good to go but as soon as I power down the AC and controller and start afresh the app does one of two things ... 1. Doesn't show me the 3 SE in the dropdown or   2. if it does (usually by upgrading to the next release up form the recommended one of 3.1.8) the button is grey rather than the blue I now know to expect. The only way to get camera connectivity back appears (because I've not run exhaustive tests) to be by upgrading to the latest version of the app which immediately tells me the drone is in teh wrong mode and switching back to CE. Arrgggh.

If you lose signal at 50-75 metres, that points to a genuine problem and switching to FCC mode isn't going to solve that.
Are you orienting the antenna correctly? (point the long side toward the drone)

Hi there, please try to enable the airplane mode and disable the Bluetooth to see whether the issue remains.

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-5-14 23:27
Hi there, please try to enable the airplane mode and disable the Bluetooth to see whether the issue remains.

@DJI Susan - The only wifi available at this location is the drone one and airplane mode would kill my link to that so can't use that. Secondly I never use bluetooth so that is always disabled.

Labroides Posted at 2018-5-14 14:58
If you lose signal at 50-75 metres, that points to a genuine problem and switching to FCC mode isn't going to solve that.
Are you orienting the antenna correctly? (point the long side toward the drone)

Absolutely I'm doing that correctly - I've read plenty of posts that give that advice so have made doubly sure.

Since I made my post yesterday I have managed to find another post and version of the 3.1.8 app and this continues to recognise my 3 SE after a power cycle and I tested in a location last night where I was having the distance / loss of signal issue. Stood in the same place in similar conditions and with clear line of sight (as before) I could now fly the bird much further / higher than previously.

So, in truth, that's all the distance I need and will be happy with this state.

That said, I do think DJI need to step up and accept that in Europe, this bird does not fly anywhere near the distance they claim. Then they need to give users a software option to switch between modes as they see fit, But it also, from my reading, seems that they aren't interested in doing so.

stubbyd Posted at 2018-5-15 01:06
Absolutely I'm doing that correctly - I've read plenty of posts that give that advice so have made doubly sure.

Since I made my post yesterday I have managed to find another post and version of the 3.1.8 app and this continues to recognise my 3 SE after a power cycle and I tested in a location last night where I was having the distance / loss of signal issue. Stood in the same place in similar conditions and with clear line of sight (as before) I could now fly the bird much further / higher than previously.

I do think DJI need to step up and accept that in Europe, this bird does not fly anywhere near the distance they claim.
You might think that but it's not true.
Most users have no problem matching or even exceeding the published distance specs when flying in an interference free area.
It sounds like you have a genuine hardware problem.

Labroides Posted at 2018-5-15 01:15
I do think DJI need to step up and accept that in Europe, this bird does not fly anywhere near the distance they claim.
You might think that but it's not true.
Most users have no problem matching or even exceeding the published distance specs when flying in an interference free area.

As you are someone that has clearly got experience I'm happy to take that - all I can report on is what I've read as I definitely don't have experience with drones yet

And yes, there are users reporting good distances but none (I've read) that haven't been down the FCC kludge to get that back once on the latest / current firmware.

C'est la vie.

Would a windsurfer type aerial mod work?

Definitely not - not on an SE.  

I have to wonder if you're sure you're aiming your controller correctly.  50 meters is pretty horrible.

Please describe how you aim.  Please be specific.  

If it turns out you're aiming correctly, you might consider warranty service.

Otherwise, maybe this thread will help:  https://phantompilots.com/thread ... s-with-p3se.128089/

Good luck

Mark The Droner Posted at 2018-5-15 02:20
Definitely not - not on an SE.  

I have to wonder if you're sure you're aiming your controller correctly.  50 meters is pretty horrible.

Mark ...

Thanks again for the response - pretty sure I'm aiming it right. Why do I know, well tested it 2 nights ago and got 500m before my restrictions kicked in - no hint of a signal drop or similar. So, whatever I've done (if anything) it is now ok. I am more than happy with 500m and I also took it up to 100m whilst at my max distance. Next time I'm going to disable the distance restriction and see what we get.

For the record, I'm not sure warranty would apply as I bought this off of a friend who got it 2nd hand.

I use FCC in a CE Zone ... the difference is impressive

Nebuchadnezzar Posted at 2018-5-19 10:46
I use FCC in a CE Zone ... the difference is impressive

Not for my p4p they aint, only got an extra 350m lol

stubbyd Posted at 2018-5-15 00:41
@DJI Susan - The only wifi available at this location is the drone one and airplane mode would kill my link to that so can't use that. Secondly I never use bluetooth so that is always disabled.

Sorry about this. If the issue appears frequently, please kindly send the unit in for a fully diagnosis: https://www.dji.com/support

Bashy Posted at 2018-5-19 20:42
Not for my p4p they aint, only got an extra 350m lol

I would have been happy with just the 350m - lol

Sorted now though.

Nebuchadnezzar Posted at 2018-5-19 10:46
I use FCC in a CE Zone ... the difference is impressive

Managed to get further now using 5.8g as opposed to the 2.4g i was using, i didnt realise 5.8 is better in FCC mode

You wonbt be suprise if i am saying 50meters...when 100meters already triggers RTH and when comes to 50meters...all craps happens..but that was b4 till bro Nebuchadnezzar helps and i am able to push it out till 1.5km with only ONCE video lag/lost 2 seconds....

The link belows was b4

If i didn't make it clear then I believe my issue is now resolved.

I had distance restrictions enabled and managed to reach 500m with the "FCC fix" applied. Just two days ago I went to a local nature reserve and flew it across their 'pond' with distance restrictions off and happily got it to 550m away from me before loss of line of sight started to cause me to stop.

So, in summary: pre FCC fix signal would deteriorate / crap out at 50 to 100m. Now I can get 500m with no issues and I am more than happy with that. No other changes were made including how I had my controller.